ST. PETERSBURG, FL — While much of the attention Tuesday night was focused on the dramatic mayoral race that saw Charlie Crist defeat incumbent Ken Welch, St. Petersburg voters also elected two new faces to City Council who will soon be part of making consequential decisions about the city's future.
Linsey Grove is the projected winner of the open District 6 seat, defeating Trevor Mallory, while Gabriel Hament is projected to defeat Courtney Bermudez in the race for the District 2 seat.
While speaking with Patch on Wednesday, both candidates said that they're grateful for the support they received throughout their campaigns and eager to get to work, even though they both anticipate significant challenges awaiting the incoming council.
For Grove, who spent more than a year campaigning for the District 6 seat, the victory was the culmination of months of knocking on doors, attending neighborhood association meetings and participating in candidate forums.
She said she felt confident heading into Election Day after receiving positive feedback from voters and seeing strong responses to her campaign's phone banking and texting efforts.
Grove said she was particularly encouraged by the enthusiasm surrounding the council races, which she feels were a bright spot amid the contentious mayoral contest.
"A lot of folks I think were feeling really exhausted by the mayoral race," she said. "So the City Council races I think were almost like this nice little bright spot because there wasn't the same kind of drama."
A St. Petersburg resident with a doctorate in public health, Grove is the CEO of The Hypatia Collaborative. She previously served as president of the League of Women Voters, vice chair of the Pinellas County Charter Review Commission and an appointee to the Pinellas County Council for Persons with Disabilities.
Her experience also includes helping lead the effort to pass a 2021 resolution declaring racism a public health crisis in St. Petersburg, the first Florida city to pass such a resolution.
Grove has long planned to run for City Council for some time but saw this year's open District 6 seat as the right opportunity. Having previously managed a campaign and gained diverse professional experience, she felt ready to take the plunge.
Her election night celebration was held at the home of a neighbor, a professional dessert chef — "I wasn't going to pass up that opportunity," she said.
The location is not only a neighborhood gathering spot, but also a setting that reflected, for her, the neighborhood-focused campaign she sought to run.
"We are a city of neighborhoods," Grove said. "And neighborhoods are kind of like the first stop for a lot of people who want to be more civically engaged."
But the work ahead is already on her mind. Grove identified Amendment 3, the statewide property tax measure approved by voters, as one of the biggest challenges the new council will face.
With budget planning for the next fiscal year beginning early in the year, she said council members will have to figure out how to continue providing city services while navigating the financial implications of the amendment.
"That's going to be huge," Grove said. "The second we're sworn in, we're going to have this huge hill to climb."
Grove's campaign focused on affordability, infrastructure and creating a better-connected city, including increasing affordable housing opportunities, reducing the cost of living and improving connections between residents and local government.
She said she is looking forward to working with the incoming administration and residents to brainstorm solutions and address the city's challenges.
Hament, who won the District 2 race, also felt confident heading into Election Day after spending 10 months campaigning.
He described Tuesday's turnout as particularly encouraging, recalling lines of voters in Shore Acres and at the Coliseum as he made his way around polling locations.
"I think turnout was getting close to presidential level," Hament said, adding that he saw strong energy and excitement among voters.
An assistant public defender, he holds bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Florida. Before entering law school, he served on his school district's Financial Advisory Committee, where he monitored reserve accounts and helped ensure voter-approved tax revenue was allocated according to voters' intentions.
His campaign emphasized storm preparedness, infrastructure improvements, expanding economic opportunities, addressing housing affordability and protecting St. Petersburg's culture of inclusivity.
Hament said his campaign also prioritized building relationships with neighborhood leaders and getting involved in community service projects. He volunteered through Keep Pinellas Beautiful and Stewards of Our Urban Lakes, using the projects as opportunities to learn more about the challenges and aspirations of neighborhoods throughout the city.
The effort was modeled, in part, after former Florida Gov. Bob Graham's practice of spending time working alongside people in different professions to better understand the communities he hoped to represent.
Looking ahead, Hament has identified infrastructure resilience as a top priority, pointing to voters' overwhelming approval of a city general obligation bond to fund infrastructure improvements.
Voter approval of that measure sent a clear message that residents want targeted investments to protect their homes and neighborhoods from flooding and other climate-related threats, he said, adding, "The number one obligation of government at any level is the protection of lives and property."
He believes cities such as St. Petersburg will play a leading role in responding to climate change, sea-level rise and increasingly extreme weather.
"I think St. Pete is going to lead on climate resiliency, and everybody's going to be looking at what St. Pete is doing to make sure everybody is as protected as possible," Hament said.
He also pointed to Amendment 3's passage as a signal that residents want local governments to be mindful of rising costs and spending, even as they support targeted infrastructure investments.
He opposed the amendment, expressing concern that reductions in local property tax revenue could affect the city's financial stability and credit rating.
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